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CAW Union head Buzz Hargrove threatens to take GM down in '08 if...

Things are not looking good for American automakers' plants in Windsor, Ontario. Canadian Auto Workers Union head Buzz Hargrove was upset when Fordshut down a plant in Windsor a while back, and now he's directing his frustration towards General Motors. Recently, St. Catherines, also in Canada and represented by the CAW, was awarded a new contract to build transmissions for GM. St. Catherines had never had a contract to build transmissions for GM before, and the CAW was expecting the Windsor plant to get that contract. The Windsor plant now has no product to build and nothing in the pipeline, and Hargrove is threatening more than just a strike: a total take-down of General Motors. The union would like to see a new product there, not something that will take another plant down in lieu of Windsor. Read more about that here. We'll give you a few choice phrases from Hargrove and Chris Buckley, president of Local 222, after the jump. They sound pretty serious about this, as you'll read.

"I say to them, you better find a G** damn product for Windsor or we'll take all of the General Motors corporation down in September 2008. General Motors workers have earned the commitment, especially in Windsor."

"If there's a strike, it's the whole GM chain that's out, not just one plant."

"General Motors is the enemy, brothers and sisters. At the end of the day, GM made a decision to put your jobs in jeopardy. Don't let General Motors divide our solidarity, because if they do, they win."

"This Windsor Transmission plant will be top on our agenda. It's going to be our objective to force General Motors to put a product in that plant. If they don't, then we'll take action. If it takes a strike in Canada to get their attention, that's exactly what we're going to be doing. The Windsor membership has the full support of GM members across the country."

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Anonymous

8 Years Ago

Hey you Canuck Jimmy Hoffa, look at your union members paychecks. What do they say? GM or CAW/UAW? Your overpaid union Bums are the reason I paid $20K plus for an average car with crappy mileage and outrageous parts and repair costs. Fuck-you, you should be grateful you still have a job and benefits. There are 20,000,000 Mexicans waiting to take your job along with billions in Chna and India. Your Union is a dinosaur that needs to adapt to the Global economy or wither away and die.

Buzz Hargrove......Kinda sounds like P A C K A R D. Outdated and out of production. Hargrove needs to be locked in a closet. Better yet move ALL OPERATIONS out of Canada into the good ole USA and put those jobs and money right back where they belong. Here in the US. We already have $21 Billion a year going to Mexico, why keep adding to it.Bring jobs back to the US and let Hargrove and the Canadians fend for themselves for a change. Unions used to be useful, now they are a cancer and for the most part need to be cut out like the weeds they are.I for one am tired of supporting the rest of the world so the corporation's can make more money.

Anonymous

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

BLSI think you would agree that anyone who takes away your bread and butter is the enemy. The point is that GM said the jobs were going, there are no jobs available in Windsor right now. There is no other employer to worry about. The backs are to the wall.

MKWhat are you talking about? Workers work, managers manage, it's a business deal.

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

Most people would do just that, BLS. But these people cannot be reasoned with. To them this is not about privledge but about entitlement. They are born into this mentality. It is like a religious cult and the only way it will stop is with the decimation of the American auto industry.

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

If there's no jobs in Windsor then you Fing move where there's a job like anyone else that gets some bad luck like their employer shutting down.

I know it's not easy, I've had to do it and so have a lot of other people. It can be tough, especially for a few months but it's not the end of the world and long term you're normally better off if you can move someplace with a stronger job market anyways if the jobs just aren't good where you are living. Life isn't always easy though, sometimes you have tough times. Now the people that do what's needed in a time like this have my sympathy but they also have my respect. Anything else is just being a whiney lazy sob that deserves all the status of the bum they are.

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

Not satisfied with your work? Find another job and/or move. Not satisfied with your pay? Get an education. These days, a bachelor's degree is yesterday's high-school diploma. Some accreditation/education is sponsored by GM, use that resource!

Don't look to others for all your woes. This is *still* the land of opportunity: even the illegal aliens know this.

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

Sadly it gets harder every day to support unions. It would be so easy for them to play this thing right and gain sympathy from the average American/Canadian but they blow it every time. It's almost as if they want themselves to fail. Personally it depresses me because unions can be great thing, but people like this pervert it and turn it into something bad. Don't they realize that long term they're playing right into GM's hands? And how screwed up is it when the company you work for, the company that feeds your family, is referred to as "the enemy". Unfortunately these clowns have lost all perspective. They'll be the ones to kill the unions and we'll all be worse off for it.

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

PuffyCI'm curious to know how you would play it right. What strategy would you use? When have you ever seen a company return a living wage to a worker on their own? Look at all the fuss when there was an attempt to raise minimum wage.

Anonymous

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

"I say to them, you better find a G** damn product for Windsor or we'll take all of the General Motors corporation down in September 2008. General Motors workers have earned the commitment, especially in Windsor."

Man this guy is a geneous. SO instead of 2,000 people beign out of work, 300 000 people worldwide could be out of work if this potential strike affects GM badly. Buzz Hargrove is a MORON and NEEDS TO FIND NEW LINE OF WORK!

Anonymous

8 Years Ago

Two points:first, your statement is easy to make if you're NOT one of the 2,000 out of work.second, your numbers are way off, there are already several thousand out of work, affecting close to a hundred thousand.